Last night, my friend and small business owner Pria Chouhan went to the Marie Forleo Presents the Everything Is Figureoutable Experience at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The motivational speaker and coach is currently on a tour promoting her newest book. Guests were greeted by impossibly handsome male models and plucky staff who were trained to engender enthusiasm from the time we entered the metal detectors at security.
Each tour on the stop is billed as an ‘experience.’ Part rock concert, replete with hip hop dancers, (Forleo was a Nike dance athlete in a previous avatar. ) An oversized screen played a rather tangential video that was a nod to the speaker’s Italian heritage. And part TedTalk as the author and motivational speaker took the stage and spoke for about 60 minutes in her signature funky and accessible style about achieving our goals and desires.
Forleo’s inspiration is her mother, a woman who had the knack for figuring out everything from tiling the bathroom to fixing the roof, with only a high school education. During her talk, she cited the time she asked her mother how she knew how to do so many things. Forleo’s mom replied,”Nothing is that complicated. Everything is figureoutable.” Thus, the title of Forleo’s book and her no-holds-barred approach to her talk last night. She shed a spotlight on how we make choices in life and encouraged us to become more honest with why we make them. “I can’t usually means, I won’t” said Forleo. “Do yourself a favor, and at least be honest with yourself.”
My favorite part was Forleo’s visualization exercise at the end of her talk. She asked the audience to stand up, close their eyes and picture the one thing we individually wished to come true. I am writing my memoir. I pictured myself reading excerpts from the book in bookshops in Paris, Belarus and Milwaukee. I also pictured my New York City brownstone, with a black granite top kitchen with cherry window-paned cabinetry, wine fridge, and open format. I pictured my walk-in closet with razor-thin stacked drawers, and buttercream Benjamin Moore walls, and the cute puppy who jumps on my lap. In the spirit of Tony Robbins, she asked the audience to anchor this visual into our systems, with loud screams of joy and subsequent dancing.
I’m of two minds with the ‘experience.’ I didn’t need the rock concert hip hop dancers. I would have been just fine with the Brene Brown brand of “Dare to Lead” straight talk on stage. Forleo started her now popular Marie TV with her talking straight to a web cam and I would have been fine with that approach.
But I get the over-top-ness as a marketing trope. There is so much noise in the market right now, it’s tough to break through. In fact, my business coach challenged me on the phone yesterday to anchor each piece of education I offer at LadyDrinks with entertainment. So I get the reasoning behind the bells and whistles of a production like this.
